Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that his ageing father’s health had worsened, and that he would make room in his schedule, if needed, to spend more time with him.

Speaking from Pursat, where he was presiding over the groundbreaking of a road and bridge construction project, the premier said the health situation of his father, Hun Neang, was not stable, and that the 92-year-old was receiving blood transfusions.

“Now the issue is that his kidney and so on is worsening, so last night we communicated within the family and might need to bring a group of medical doctors from Singapore, because we cannot move him out of the room,” Hun Sen said.

“If there is some cutting of my schedule then it will be due to the health situation of my father, because the schedule can be postponed to another time, but for my father, we have only one,” he said, adding that his father was conscious but could only speak softly. Neang was hospitalised for a time in Singapore two years ago for treatment of several ailments, including heart problems, and has not appeared in public since his return.

Seng Tieng, personal assistant to Hun Sen, said that the premier’s schedule in the coming weeks so far remained the same, and maintained that Neang’s health was still “normal”.

“He just said that in case his father’s health is bad, but he is normal, so his schedule has no change so far,” Tieng said.

Hun Neang’s wife, Dy Pok, died in 1998 at the age of 79.